The Kyoris
by Ari Gozen
Summary: Two twins arrive at Rikkai Dai. However, they're not your average new students. Once they meet the tennis team, Yanagi find out something interesting about them. They join the team, but their lives at Rikkai Dai are far from perfect. SanadaxOC
1. Game Start

Chapter One

_Game Start_

"Scared, Hibari?"

Hibari turned to look at the boy walking next to her, surprised by his question. She smiled softly, almost teasingly, and said in English, "Of course not. What is there to be afraid of, Aidan?" Her tone was calm and smooth; her voice was clear, but with a hint of a British accent.

The boy simply shrugged. "It's a new school, in a whole different country. Most people would be nervous," he replied with a smirk. "But remember to call me 'Haru' next time. It's what Father wants, at least." And what was the reason for his strange words? The two twins were on their way to Rikkai dai Fuzoku Chuu; it was their first day.

The whole conversation had been carried out in English, but as they approached the school, the two reverted to using the Japanese language. Even though the two had lived in England most of their lives, Japanese had not been too hard for them too learn. After all, they were half-Japanese.

As they were about to enter through the doors to the school, they glanced at each other almost nervously, but then pushed open the doors. Inside, the hallways were cluttered with students who were talking to their friends or finishing some forgotten homework. Haru and Hibari walked down the halls to the office where they were supposed to first meet their sensei. Around them, a number of students had begun to stare at the newcomers, both in awe and curiosity. It was spring, and the school did not usually take on transfer students at the time. And to make it even more surprising, these two dark-haired twins did not seem nervous at being new students at all. In fact, they seemed rather confident, as if they already owned the school after being there only two minutes.

"Hibari-chan, we seem to be attracting attention," Haru said to his sister nonchalantly. This earned him yet another faint, yet playful smile. Hibari had always been the quiet one.

She spoke, her striking green eyes still staring ahead of her. "What about it?" she replied, raising an eyebrow ever so slightly. "What do you think it's going to be like here?" Hibari then said to her twin, suddenly curious. _I'm just looking forward to seeing this school's tennis club,_ she thought to herself.

"Oh, I think life is Japan is going to be very… interesting," Haru said, glancing around at the cute girls that were eying him with a smirk on his face and a trickster's look in his eye. He had a good feeling about this school.

Hibari sighed, already feeling sorry for the poor girl that her brother chose as his next target.

*****

Haru and Hibari took their seats where the teacher directed them. They sat next to each other. However, to Hibari's right sat another second-year, but he seemed… peculiar, to say the least. He had messy black hair and a kind of wild and bold look in his eyes. Out of all of her classmates, he stood out the most, especially when he caught her eye, and flashed a winning smile. Though blushing slightly, she did her best to ignore him, and simply tried focusing on the teacher's history and geography lecture. School in Japan seemed just as tedious as school in England, only the teacher spoke Japanese instead of English.

The boy next to her seemed to be spaced out and not paying attention, for the teacher had to call his name a few times when asking him a question.

"Kirihara!" snapped the teacher. The boy, Kirihara, blinked and turned towards the teacher.

"Um… _hai_?"

"I asked you about the main geography of Japan, and how it compares to the geography of the States. Kirihara, you need to start paying more attention in class, or I'm going to have to have a conference with your parents."

"_Ch-chotto_! No, don't call my parents…"

Kirihara stumbled over his answer, but it was enough to avoid the dreaded conference. Haru, being the teasing person that he was, snickered at Kirihara's answer and even Hibari couldn't help but smile slightly. The rest of the class didn't even try to suppress their laughs. The classroom rang with teenager's laughter at Kirihara's little predicament. He glared at them, his eyes seeming to burn a hole in the air. The laughing silenced at his threatening ferocity, and the lecture continued with the only voice in the room being the teacher's.

*****

It was lunch time, and the two black-haired twins sat next to each other on the rooftop of the building, their bento boxes set neatly in front of them. "How do you like it so far?" Hibari spoke, attempting to break their awkward silence. To be honest, she had found life at Rikkai Dai normal, and nothing seemed special about the school. Then what was with the feeling that Rikkai Dai would be different… and she was actually going to like it? Of course, Hibari had never been clairvoyant.

"How do I like it? It's alright, I guess, but not as fun as I'd hoped. Why does our teacher have to be so boring?" Haru sighed and fell back to lie down with his hand behind his head. "But let's not talk about the negative things," he declared optimistically. "Did you notice that Kirihara in our class? Well, of course you'd have to be both deaf and blind to not notice him." A soft chuckle escaped his lips.

Hibari was snapped out of her mild trance. "Kirihara? He seems like the problem child to me." Despite her defiant words, a pale shade of pink emerged in her cheeks. To most people, it would have gone unnoticed. However, Haru wasn't most people.

He immediately sat up, an amused look on his face. "Oh, do I see a blush?" he teased, laughing. "You like him don't you? Although I think he's a little too mischievous for you, little sister." There was nothing better than a chance for him to get on his sister's nerves. It was just so fun to see her reaction.

Her brother's teasing caught her off guard and only made her more flustered. "I do not! And you're one to talk about mischievous. I hang out with you, don't I, and who's the one who has a different girl for every day of the week?" she snapped back, hoping to disguise her embarrassment. As revenge, she took one of her octopus shaped sausages and threw it at his face.

"Your words wound me, as does the octopus," he sighed, pretending to act hurt and clutching his hand to his chest dramatically. The poor, wasted sausage lay forgotten next to his hand resting on the ground.

Just then, the door back into the building swung open, and a group of boys walked through. All of them looked like they were in their third year, except one. That one was Kirihara. The rest seemed serious, if not somewhat playful. Kirihara just seemed… unpredictable. Exactly what made it so hard to describe him?

"Ah, it's the two foreign students," said a white pony-tailed boy, noticing the twins sitting on the rooftop. "I was wondering when I'd get to meet you two." Now, he was walking over to them. The white-haired boy bent down, and extended a hand to Haru. "Hey, I'm Niou, third year."

Haru raised an eyebrow, while shaking the third-year's hand. "Nice to meet you, Niou-senpai. I'm Kyori Haru, second year. And this is my younger sister, Hibari."

The girl sitting by him scowled slightly at the word 'younger'.

Niou turned to Hibari, as if noticing her for the first time. He smiled gently, marveling in his mind how cute she was, being the flirtatious, if not wrong, person he was.

Suddenly, a voice interfered. "Niou, stop harassing the new students."

The white-haired tennis player turned around to face the third year that had spoken. It was a red-haired boy chewing gum. "Hello there," said the gum boy to Hibari and Haru. "Marui Bunta, third year," came the introduction.

The twins scanned their eyes over the whole group. They were wearing yellow and black uniforms. Finally, yet another one of their group spoke up. This student had long, wavy black hair, and wore a headband. "I'm Yukimura. We're the Rikkai Dai tennis regulars."

*****

"Those two are quite interesting, aren't they?" Niou asked his teammates during their tennis practice that same day after school, referring to the Kyoris.

Marui nodded in agreement. "Yea, but I wonder if they play tennis. It might be cool to have them join the tennis club or something." You can never tell where good talent came from. After all, wasn't the one that defeated Yukimura, the 'Child of God' a first year from Seigaku?

Out of nowhere, Yanagi, who had been missing from practice until then, entered into the courts. The captain of the team turned towards him. "Yanagi, where have you been?"

"I was doing a bit of research," he replied, holding up a few papers in his hand, "about the new students."

Now this roused some interest. Everyone ended their rallies or stopped in mid-swing to listen to what Yanagi had to say. After all, this could be some valuable information.

"Apparently, the Kyori twins came from England. And, they were national-ranking tennis players." This was followed by exclamation of disbelief and amazement. "They won the nationals twice; once as doubles players, and another as singles players." He stopped there, and watched for their reactions. Yukimura seemed especially intrigued.

"Tomorrow, we must invite them to tennis practice," said the captain.

*****


	2. Declaration

Chapter 2

_Declaration_

That next day, Hibari and Haru were gathering their things to leave class. They certainly didn't expect their classmate Kirihara to come up to them and ask them something. He had sauntered up to them, his hand nervously running through his black hair as he glanced at Hibari, then averted his eyes to look at Haru.

"Will you two… follow me to the tennis courts?"

His words were met with silence, and then a curious stare. "Why?" Haru asked carefully, wondering what Kirihara was up to. It was probably mischief or something falling into that category, knowing Kirihara. Still, after meeting him with his friends, he didn't seem that outrageous… more child-like, but with that daring nerve. Of course, they hadn't seen him play tennis yet.

Kirihara didn't say anything for a moment. "I, I mean _we_, the Rikkai Dai regulars… would like you to come practice with us." There. He had said it. Now what would their response be? He wasn't sure if Yukimura wanted him to actually _convince_ them to come to practice if they refused initially, or just let them be. To be honest, he would rather go with the latter. The hands of the clock on the classroom wall were the only sound and movement as they counted the passing seconds.

"Alright, I'll go," said Hibari quite calmly.

Both of the boys, Kirihara and Haru, froze for a moment to stare at the thin, green-eyed girl standing between them. "Wh-what?" Haru stammered, surprised at his sister. "Are you sure? I mean, for all we know, this could be his way of tricking you into going out with him!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! Why would I ask your sister out?"

"Was that just an insult to my sister?"

"Of-of course it wasn't!"

"So you're saying you _do_ want to ask her out?"

Conversation went on like that for the next minute or so, until the two calmed down somewhat and Hibari spoke again. (She had been enjoying watching fight, and was somewhat sad to see it end). "Don't worry Haru; he asked _both_ of us to come, didn't he? Besides, why do you have to be so protective?" she sighed, glancing at her brother pointedly, as if to say _'You're such an idiot'_.

Haru looked down at the floor nervously, avoiding his sister's gaze. Yes, there were moments when she won and he hated those moments. He looked up again, at Kirihara this time. "Fine, we'll go with you."

*****

The twins walked behind Kirihara into the tennis courts, where the other regulars were waiting patiently for them. "What took so long?" asked Niou, pretending he was annoyed. Of course, he wasn't. He was too preoccupied thinking how cute Hibari was, and what it would be like to take her on a date some day. But then again, he'd have to deal with that ever-so-protective twin brother of hers. Perhaps it just wasn't worth the trouble.

"I'm sorry, but-"

Kirihara was cut off by Yukimura, who simply gave a nod for the boy to stop and to show slight appreciation, but then walked over to the Kyori twins. "Thank you for coming." He gave a friendly smile to the two. They were, after all, classmates.

"So, why are we here?" Haru asked the tennis captain, his tone sounding almost bored.

The other team members almost snickered at this question, but held back in respect for their captain. "As you know, we are the tennis regulars. And we would like to see how good you are. In other words, you are here to test your tennis skills."

"Tennis skills?" Haru breathed. _Damn it, they found out. _It hadn't been their plans to have others discover his and his sister's tennis status. They preferred to show what they could do themselves, but it was too late for that. "So, I guess you know, then?"

The others nodded with smirks on their faces.

All of a sudden, Niou thrust a racket into each of the twins' hands. "And so, here's your test. A doubles game! You two against me and Sanada over here," he declared happily, placing a hand on his current partner's soldier. Sanada didn't seem to enjoy that too much (but then again, his face is always like that…).

*****

Hibari stood a little a ways from her brother on the tennis court, facing Niou and Sanada. She had never seen them play, and had heard nothing about their playing style. Oh well, it didn't matter. As a national-ranking player, it was only natural she be able to find her opponent's weakness during the game. The other thing bothering her was this was a doubles game. It wasn't that she and her brother didn't make good partners (they were excellent, actually), but it was the fact that she played much better as a singles player.

She was the one to serve first. The others sat on the benches, eagerly anticipating an interesting match. Taking a deep breath, Hibari tossed the ball up for her own signature serve. The ball flew straight and quick, but seemed to disappear as Niou raised his racquet. The tennis call reappeared just inside the court lines. As the ball shot to the other side and past Niou, who looked shocked that he hadn't been able to return it, Haru began to smirk and adjusted his grip on the racket he held. The game was starting.

"You used your signature serve, '_Shooting Star_' for the first move. How worked up are you?" he asked his sister knowingly.

"Not too much," she sighed in reply to her brother.

[Thirty Minutes Later]

"Game set, won by Haru and Hibari, 6-4."

Haru smiled brightly at Yukimura's declaration, while on the other side of the court, Niou was panting for air while Sanada just seemed plain shocked. The two newcomers had beaten them. Hibari and Haru were also breathing heavily, but they still stood with that quiet confidence they were known so well for.

*****

From that day on, the Kyori twins had been good friends with Rikkai Dai tennis team. Somehow, Hibari had become their manager (she had refused to be part of the girl's tennis team, saying that they weren't good enough) and Haru part of the regulars. Of course, it was no surprise.

Hibari stood out near the tennis courts with Yukimura and Kirihara as they waited for the rest of the team. Suddenly, they saw a strange sight.

At first, Hibari thought it was her brother coming from the school building to the tennis courts. And she was right. Only someone was with her brother… and he didn't look too happy.

"Get off me, damn it!" her brother shouted in annoyance at the girl clinging to him. The girl seemed to have no intent on letting go, and kept that simple fan girl expression on her face.

"But Haru-sama, I love you!!!" squealed the fan girl. Her voice was very high-pitched, and her grip on Haru only tightened. "Haru-sama!!!" said the girl while smiling.

"Damn it, who the hell are you?"

Haru was finally able to pry her off and run away to the tennis courts. The girl could be seen looking around for him. Gosh. What a desperate fan girl.

Niou watched the entire scene as he also exited the building. Once Haru had escaped, Niou put his arms around his soldier, grinning as if they were the best of friends. "How is it that the girls come to you, and I have to actually work?"

"You can take all the fan girls for all I care, Niou-sempai."

*****

Finally, everyone came and they had begun tennis practice. Hibari sat on one of the benches while watching Marui and Jackal rally, Kirihara having a match with Sanada, and everyone else was practicing their serves and different techniques. Expect Yanagi of course. Half the time he was practicing, the other time he was observing the others.

Suddenly, Marui let the ball fly past him as he flinched backwards.

"What's wrong?" asked his partner Jackal.

"There were bees flying around me."

"Bees? That's all? Don't worry about them."

But they did have to worry. Noticing something strange, Hibari looked at the nearby sakura trees that lay outside the fence of the tennis courts. She saw… a dark, flying mass. Bees.

Attracted by the Rikkai Dai regulars' black and yellow uniforms, the mass flew straight into the tennis courts. Surprised by the ambush of insects, the boys stopped what they were doing immediately and started running. First, it was just running within the tennis courts, but that didn't work. Then, they all ran out onto the grass, hoping that perhaps the swarm would dissolve and they wouldn't suffer from any stings.

Meanwhile, Hibari just sat on her bench, laughing.

Desperate, the regulars made a drastic decision. They jumped straight into the school's pool. Luckily, there wasn't a swim meet going on (but the real relief was that they all knew, though some only vaguely, how to swim). The bees, not being able to go into the water, disappeared back into the trees.

The boys surfaced, gasping from air and scrambling out of the chilly water. They were all shivering from the cold. Luckily, Hibari came walking over nonchalantly carrying a stack of neatly folded towels.

She handed them the towels so they could dry off, then smiled gently, if not teasingly. "You know, maybe having the uniforms yellow and black wasn't such a good idea."


	3. Realize

-Chapter Three-

_Realize_

Hibari sat in her room, dressed in plain black shorts and a dark blue sleeveless shirt. It was a weekend, and she was doing her best to finish up the report she had been assigned for history class. The blinds of her window were open, letting pale afternoon sunlight spill through the transparent glass onto the carpet of her room. A sudden knock on the door interrupted the quietness.

"Hibari, can I come in?" called her brother's voice from the other side of the door.

"Sure. The door's unlocked."

Her brother waltzed in, also wearing casual jeans and a collared shirt. "It's really nice outside. I thought maybe you'd like to go somewhere. All you've really been doing lately is homework and going to the public courts to train," he said to her, a sympathetic tone in his voice. "Why not try just walking around town with me for today?"

The young girl sighed, and then said, "Fine. I'll be downstairs in about ten minutes." This seemed to satisfy Haru, who smiled, then walked back out the door.

Ten minutes later, Hibari arrived down in the living to meet her brother. He had also changed into more suitable, everyday clothes. With a smirk, Haru opened the door, and allowed Hibari to walk out first before exiting and closing the door behind him.

"So, where exactly are we going?"

Haru looked back at his sister with a sly smirk. "Oh, you'll see."

*****

They soon arrived at one of their favorite cafés in town. Before, when they had only just moved to Kanagawa, the twins loved to go there. However, the café seemed dark today; no lights were on and it seemed as though there was no one inside.

"Haru, I think this place is closed for today. Maybe we should leave," Hibari said as her brother began to open the door to the café. Miraculously, the door was unlocked.

Her brother gestured her into the café. "Don't worry about it. You trust me don't you?"

Even as she walked in, Hibari was still suspicious. However, just as she walked in, the lights flew on to reveal the other Rikkai Dai regulars shouting out, "Surprise!" with delighted smiles on their faces. Even Sanada was smiling.

Haru placed a hand on her sister's shoulder and then gave her a quick hug, saying, "Happy birthday, Hibari-chan."

Hibari laughed, "Happy birthday to you too, Brother. But I still don't get why you knew about this, when it's still your birthday." They were, after all, twins.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time at the café. Apparently, Haru had convinced their father to rent out the place for the day. Having a rich father had its perks. Then, he'd invited all the regulars to come celebrate. There were balloons and cake and anything else you would typically find at a party.

When they were enjoying their cake, Haru suddenly walked up to Kirihara, and put his arm around him in a friendly, teasing manner. "So, Kirihara-san, when are you going to tell her?"

"What do you mean?"

Haru smirked. "You know very well what and who I mean. My sister. When are you going to tell her you like her?"

Kirihara looked shocked as he said, "That's not true!"

This earned him a questioningly look from Haru. "Is it?"

The once threatening and bold boy before him now looked timid and defeated. "I… you caught me. "

*****

The party had ended, so the twins, along with Sanada and Kirihara, were cleaning up at the café. Many had protested to the twins' cleaning, since it was their birthday, but the two wouldn't hear of it.

With the last stray napkin thrown away and the crumbs swept, everything was finished. Hibari began to walk out of the café while Haru stayed just to make sure everything was truly in order. For once, she would be able to walk home without her brother at her side. To be honest, she felt rather liberated. Her brother wouldn't be there to criticize her every action.

"It's dangerous for you to be walking alone this late."

Hibari turned her head to see Sanada Genchirou walking up from behind her. "What are you doing here?" she asked him curiously. Before, he had still been at the café with Haru and Kirihara. She stopped to look back and face him. "I'm perfectly fine on my own, thank you very much. Besides, it's only eight in the evening." _Why am I being so rude?_ Hibari then thought. Normally, she was the quiet and polite one.

The third-year in front of her walked a little closer to her, but then spoke, "Is it alright if I walk you home?" It was also unusual for _Sanada_ to be acting this nice. He wanted to walk her home? It couldn't possibly be that…

Hibari was about to say something, when Sanada suddenly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lips. After one surprised moment, Hibari jumped away with a look of astonishment on her face.

Even worse, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kirihara standing on the block opposite them, staring with a look of equal astonishment, and seemed almost hurt. With that expression, he began running back towards the café. Despite herself, Hibari could not help but call out his name. "Kirihara, wait!" She began to run after him, but was held back by Sanada, who just stayed silent. What was happening?

*****

When Haru finally got back at the house, he didn't see Hibari in the kitchen or the living. This was odd; she would usually be having a small dinner right about now. The only other place to look for her would be her room. And when he opened the door that was where she was. Only his sister wasn't acting as she normally would. Hibari hadn't changed out of her day clothes, and she was lying on her bed.

"Hibari, are you alright?" As he walked over to his sister, he saw that her eyes were slightly red; she had been crying. "What's wrong?" he asked with a sudden urgency in his voice.

The girl sat up in bed to face her brother. "I don't know… but Sanada and Kirihara…" She couldn't go on without bursting into tears again.

_Something major must have happened. She's a lot more composed than this; I would know. _Using all his brotherly abilities, Haru was able to get his sister to explain more calmly and intelligibly until he understood the whole story. It was, to be honest, a very surprising story. He had known about Kirihara, but Sanada? And for Sanada to be so sudden was… almost offensive, really. And they had caused Hibari to have some rare nervous breakdown. The next time they met, he would have to talk to them.

Sure that his sister would be fine without him, he gently kissed her forehead after hearing the story, then told her to get some rest. Once he had shut the door to her room, Haru himself leaned on the wall and sighed. His poor little sister had found herself in a love triangle. Normally, he would have laughed, but this was his sister, and that obviously made a difference.

He remembered the continued conversation he had with Kirihara:

"_I really do like her, but... I don't know how to tell her. Besides, I think some others on the team like her a little, too."_

"_Others?" Until then, Haru hadn't considered the other regulars to fall for Hibari. "Well, to me, it doesn't matter who she likes or who likes her. I just don't want to see her get hurt."_

"_Hey, Haru, if you don't mind me asking, why are you always so protective? Well, you told me about how your mom died when you were still little, and your father doesn't care for anything but money. But what's _your_ reason?"_

"_My reason? If I don't protect her, no one else will, Kirihara. At least until she realizes… until she finds that one person that can protect her much more than I can."_

*****

Back in her room, Hibari lay back on her pillow with her hands folded beneath her head. Everything felt so confusing, so immensely incomprehensive. She did, admittedly, like Kirihara to a certain extent. But then Sanada just had to come into the picture… and made everything complex. Was it possible that she had feelings for the third-year? But one thing was for sure; Hibari realized that since she came to Kanagawa, her life had taken an immense turn. But the truth that she absolutely refused to realize was that she was in love… but with whom?


	4. Boundaries

-Chapter Four-

_Boundaries_

Back at school, Haru had cornered Kirihara and Sanada, and become his less-seen, serious self. Yes, he was a very protective person. He wasn't mad at Kirihara. It was Sanada who got the full blow of it. But out of the remaining respect he had for his sempai, Haru talked to him after tennis practice. There was no need to embarrass him or anything else of the sort.

"I can't believe you would do that to her!"

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I don't know what made me do it!"

"If you really cared about her, you wouldn't have done something so sudden like that, damn it!" At this point, Haru had had enough of Sanada's arguments. He brought his hand up, and struck his sempai straight across the face.

There was a long moment of suspenseful silence, even with Haru's hurried, frustrated breathing. Finally, the third-year spoke up. "You're right. And I really am sorry."

Haru sighed, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. "It's alright, and I'm sorry for hitting you, but go apologize directly to Hibari." He ordered. Sanada looked defeated, but obeyed and began to walk away. "Oh and Sanada, if you do apologize, it might not be too late," Haru called out with a smirk, reverting back to his humorous yet truthful self.

*****

Hibari was looking forward to, once again, walking home alone. Haru said that he had some things to do and errands to run for their classroom. Though she wasn't really sure how that worked, Hibari didn't mind too much. After all, freedom was sweet.

She had helped Haru make sure the tennis court was in order, and all the racquets and tennis balls had been put away. She even took the liberty of sweeping the court. It didn't take too long.

Finally, the door from the tennis room closed behind her, but the one waiting for her on the other side surprised her. "Ah, Sanada-san," she began nervously. "How… how are you?" The nervous side of her was beginning to surface once more. This was somewhat disappointing though; Hibari always thought she was able to perfectly control her emotions with ease.

"Look, Kyori-san, I'm sorry about yesterday."

The second-year girl blinked. Sanada was… apologizing? Inside, Hibari mentally slapped herself. _Of course he has emotions, you idiot. He just acts serious all the time. Serious with a scowl glued on to his face all the time…_ She soon shook the thought away. However, a sudden feeling had enveloped her. Something she had felt… the moment before all the confusion occurred. _When Sanada had kissed her before._ In that single blind moment, Hibari had felt, possibly, in love?

Before she knew it, her body moved on its own once again. She took his hand, which had been hanging at his side, into her own, and then kissed his cheek gently. "I accept your apology. Now, would you like to walk me home, Sanada-kun?" Hibari said with a smile.

*****

The two walked down the sidewalk while holding hands; a bold gesture to many passerby. Most knew Kyori Hibari as the rich girl who lived in the beautiful house down the street. Not many expected a stone-faced man to be walking her home. But actually, Sanada didn't look that serious at all. He was smiling for one thing.

The walk home soon turned into nice conversation. What were their favorite foods? Kinds of music? Hobbies (other than tennis)? The more she spoke with him, the more comfortable Hibari felt around the third-year. Honestly, when she had met him at the beginning of the year, Sanada Genchirou had seemed intimidating and didn't strike her as one she would make friends with. Yet now, what did the situation look like? A complete opposite of what she would have thought a couple of months ago.

With all this happening so suddenly, Hibari had a lot to think about. Things were confusing, but not so confusing to the point that it felt agonizing. Before, there had been Kirihara; that complexity that he brought. Now, she only had to sort out her thoughts. One thing was clear: She liked Sanada, and he liked her. Or at least, he liked her enough to smile. And, as she would soon find out, he _loved _her enough that he would do _anything_ for her.

While she was lost in deep though, Hibari wasn't paying much attention to the book bag in her hand, and the loose grip she held on it as they neared the corner of the sidewalk. Her house was just around that corner. However, the bag suddenly dropped to the floor and its contents spilled onto the pavement. "Ah, damn it," she cursed under her breath as she knelt down to retrieve her things.

Just then, there was an unexpected screech of tires, and for a split second Hibari stared into bright headlights. She felt herself being pushed roughly to side and landed on the pavement. A searing pain in her head brought her back to her senses, and she could make out the horrible scene. A certain someone had pushed her out of harm's way… but in turn…

"SANADA-KUN!"

*****

Kyori Haru burst through the doors to the hospital with a look of total seriousness and urgency on his face, followed by the other regulars. In the corner of the emergency waiting room sat his sister. Aside from the bandages on her head, a few scrapes on her legs, and the tears in her eyes, she looked perfectly fine. "Adeline!" Haru called, too worried to remember to address his sister by her Japanese name. He rushed to his sister and pulled her into his arms. "Are you alright?"

After the accident happened, Hibari had first used her cell phone to call an ambulance. During the time she waited for the medics to come, she had called her brother, informing him on everything that had happened. The two of them, Hibari and Sanada, had been rushed to the hospital. Hibari's injuries were minor… but Sanada was in really bad shape.

The girl began crying again into her brother's shoulders. (It was yet another one of her nervous breakdowns. She seemed to be having a lot of those recently.) "Haru… it's my fault that Sanada-kun is…"

Her twin brother did his best to calm her down as he had before, and the other regulars also tried to help… and after quite a while they were able to console her. Even after the doctor came out into the room to tell them Sanada had quite a few broken bones and major injuries, but he would make a full recovery over time.

"He will be alright, though, _ne_, Haru?"

Haru was startled by her sudden words, and looked at her face to see bright eyes identical to his, but much tainted with a kind of sad innocence. It reminded him of when they were both eight years old, and Hibari hadn't… closed her heart yet. Their father wasn't home then and their mother had passed away some time ago, so it was just the two twins in their… mansion. The look on Hibari's face at the moment seemed just like the one then. Afraid.

"He'll be fine, don't worry," he managed to say with a small smile. "Trust me Hibari… love has no boundaries. And, believe it or not, reality doesn't either."

_You have changed… so much._

*****

It had already been just under a month since the accident. Of course, school still went on normally, as did tennis practice, but it didn't feel the same without Sanada. He had been in the hospital since then, recovering.

After tennis practice, Haru and Hibari decided just to hang out around the tennis courts. There wasn't much to be done at home, and it would be nice just to slow down for a while. Besides, the _sakura_ trees were in full bloom, and the sight was quite breathtaking.

Hibari sat down under one of the trees with her brother. They were silent for a while, each unsure of what to say. Even after all that time passed, it was hard to forget. But there was something Haru had to say. Their father had consulted him, but they had not yet told Hibari.

"Hey, Hibari-chan, I have something to tell you," he began quietly. The girl sitting next to him suddenly looked up.

"_Nani_?"

Her brother didn't say anything for a moment. With a sigh, he said, "Our family is moving back to England."

Everything seemed to freeze. "What? How could we be going back?" She had come to love life in Kanagawa. She had come to love a certain person that lived in Kanagawa. There was no way she could go back to England after all that had happened. "Haru, we can't go back!"

"I'm sorry… but Father's company has bought one other back in England and he's needed there."

Neither of them spoke again. Seeing his sister so upset was distressing. Japan seemed to have changed her. Where there was once a calm, quiet girl with a closed heart to all but him, there was now a girl who could freely express emotion and was, indeed, happy. All thanks to Japan. _No, not Japan. Thanks to Sanada._

"Well, if you're leaving we might as well enjoy the time you're still here."

The twins looked over, startled, to the source of the voice. Under a different _sakura_ tree stood Sanada Genchirou with a calm smile on his face. He had only just left the hospital and came to Rikkai Dai to find her. He had heard the whole of their conversation.

Hibari's heart skipped a beat as she began running over to him. She realized the sudden truth in his words. There was no point in being miserable during her last few weeks in Kanagawa. It was as her brother had said. _Love has no boundaries._

And with that thought in mind, she threw her arms around Sanada's neck and kissed him with a newfound passion, as it very well could have been the last time she had the chance.

16


End file.
